Business & Tech

Bikram Yoga Heats Up Riverdale Park Town Center

A new yoga studio is set to open in Riverdale Park in September.

Things are getting hot in the Riverdale Park Town Center, and they’re about to get even hotter this fall with the anticipated opening of the town’s first Bikram yoga studio.

Bikram yoga, also known as hot yoga, is a series of 26 yoga postures done in aheated room of 105 degrees with about 40 to 50 percent humidity. In more advanced classes, there are up to 80 poses.

Kendra Blackett-Dibinga, who currently teaches at studios in DC and Maryland, is looking forward to opening her first studio in Riverdale Park. She began practicing yoga after the birth of her second child, and attended teacher training a few years ago after having knee surgery. 

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Ever since becoming an instructor, Blackett-Dibinga has wanted to share the benefits of Bikram yoga with as many people as possible.

“People of all walks and shapes and sizes have claimed benefits from practicing yoga,” she said. “I’ve seen so many people shed not just the physical weight but the psychological weight.

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Blackett-Dibinga is a fan of the Arts District in Hyattsville and initially looked at a space near YES! Organic Market, but said the space did not feel right to her.

Then, around a year ago, she came across the Riverdale Park Town Center.

“I fell in love with the space,” Blackett-Dibinga said, “It’s in a walkable community, lots of things are happening.”

When her broker approached Douglas Development about renting the space, she got a flat “no.”

Although initially discouraged, Blackett-Dibinga’s broker reached back out to developers a year later, and got an answer much more to her liking.

She’s renting 5,000 square feet of space in the top floor of the Town Center building that fronts Riverdale Road, and she can’t wait to bring the benefits of yoga to Riverdale Park when Bikram Yoga Riverdale opens this fall.

“It was the right time for me and also it seemed like there were some political pressure to move on the space,” Blackett-Dibinga said.

Riverdale Park, Blackett-Dibinga said, is the perfect place for her new business because there are so few yoga options in the area.

“Why not offer it in a place where it will fill a great need?” Blackett-Dibinga asked.

Blackett-Dibinga will offer beginner classes every day of the week. During the 90-minute long classes, students will go through a series of 26 poses, doing all but the final pose two times. She may eventually expand to offer more advanced classes, and also plans to offer yoga for children.

If all goes according to plan, Bikram Yoga Riverdale should open sometime in early September. More information is available on the studio’s website and Facebook page.



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